THOUGHTS & PRAYERS: Gary Ottum (Ricky Kasmir) Passed Away March 10th

Ricky having a good laugh!

From Danny Masters: One of my best friends in the music business passed away last night. Ricky Kasmir, my friend who I played with in Electric Playground, Vendetta, Girl Toys, 69 Times, the Danny Masters Band, and most recently Evermore. Ricky, Tom [Murray] and Mark Koenig hired me in Electric Playground back in 1989, my first full-time cover band. Ricky really had a star quality about him, and I remember when he first walked into the room he commanded a lot of respect and attention. Check out the video if you’re not familiar on my page of our concert back in 1990 to see what kind of a performer he was. He always gave 100% and was a perfectionist on himself but very graceful to everybody he worked with him including me. He was probably one of the easiest people I’ve ever worked with. But more importantly he was a wonderful, kind human being. He was very humble and always laughed a lot. I was really happy to include him in our Zeppelin tribute band Evermore. He hadn’t played for a quite a while and it was his last band experience. We all loved him very much. After we had gotten him worked in, he told me he was having a hard time speaking. Forming words, etc. He played great. But he wanted to let me know that he was concerned. It turns out he had a brain tumor which was operated on, and went through the usual cancer treatments. As predicted by his physicians, he eventually lost his life last night. Ricky is survived by his loving wife Laura, son Dustin, and a rich collection of very loving friends. I think we are all relieved that his suffering has ended and he’s in God’s loving arms! He was a man of faith.

We are planning a fundraiser in celebration of his life at McCarthy’s on Sunday, March 19th . Lori, Chelsea and I will be performing some acoustic rock songs and blues from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. We call this trio the three man band. Our friends from Iron Tear will also be playing into the night. Please feel free to come out and remember our dear friend Gary “RickyKasmir” Ottum. And to Ricky – Cheers.

From Tom Murray: Good bye my friend and band mate from three great bands! See you on the next plateau in the future! You made your mark in music history, loving every second of it ! God gave you the gift that FEW have and we rocked the houses and showed all how it’s done with LOVE, PASSION, TALENT and COOLNESS !!! Cheers to you my dear friend and thank you for all of the awesome memories, and moments! The journey is just beginning.! Peace to all. T.

RIP Ricky Kasmir. May you fly free old friend. My deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.